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Heavyweight Title Fight Coming To Cleveland
July 24, 2010 By George M. Phillips
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Warner Promotions is proud to present the return of Friday Night Fights to Cleveland on August 20th live from Nautica Pavilion in the Flats! The star studded night of boxing will feature Akron's own and newly crowned NABA U.S. Heavyweight Champion Nick "The Stoneman" Firtha in the main event as he will defend his title against "Lightening" Mike Sheppard of Palestine, West Virginia in a ten round bout.
The Vacant Ohio State Heavyweight Title will also be on the line! Firtha (18-7-1, 8 KO's) is coming off the biggest win of his career as he dismantled Tony Grano last month at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut to win the title. Firtha scored a second round technical knockout over Grano, who came into their bout as the favorite and had a professional record of 17-1-1, with 13 KO's. Sheppard (15-10-1, 8 KO's) comes into this fight having won four of his last five bouts. His lone loss was a ten round decision to the WBO #10 ranked heavyweight in the World, Chauncy Welliver.
In the Co-featured bout of the evening, undefeated Cleveland Junior Middleweight Dante Moore will battle his toughest opponent to date, Corey "Collateral Damage" Rodriguez of Minneapolis, MN in a six round bout. Moore (6-0, 4 KO's), a former United States Junior Olympic National Champion as an amateur, will bring his powerful style to the bout against Rodriguez (4-1-1, 3 KO's) and will be fighting in a six round bout for the first time in his career. These two were scheduled to face each other in April before Moore had to withdraw due to a training injury.
"The Pride of Lorain" Wilkins Santiago (1-0), coming off a scintillating pro-debut in April will also see action in a four round middleweight bout. Santiago is one of the area's best middleweights and is a promising prospect with a hard-punching style to please all fans.
Another promising prospect, Cleveland lightweight Julius Leegrand (3-0, 1 KO), will be looking to stay undefeated in a four round bout. The motivated Leegrand was a 2005 Cleveland Golden Gloves champion and a representative of the U.S. in the 2008 Eastern Trials as an amateur. The 22-year-old slick boxer most recently knocked out Francisco Portillo in the first round on April 24th.
The seven bout card will also feature Cleveland junior middleweight Michael Moore (1-0, 1 KO), Toledo super middleweight Damar Singleton (3-0, 2 KO's), and Holland, MI junior welterweight Johnny Garcia (2-0, 1 KO) all in four round bouts.
Doors open at 6:00 PM, with the first bell set for 7:30 PM.
Tickets for Friday Night Fights will go on sale Wednesday, July 21 through all Ticketmaster locations or charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000. Tickets start at just $25 for general admission. There are also tables seating eight for $600, Tables seating four for $300, Ringside for $75, and floor seats for $50. For more information please call 216-854-0485.
About Warner Promotions
Warner Promotions is a boxing promotional company, based out of Cleveland. They served as the co-promoter for the ESPN Friday Night fights event at the Wolstein Center on February 19th. A newly formed, Cleveland based company, owned by Ron Warner, and run by Antonio Castro, Warner Promotions has two more boxing events planned for 2010, and will be signing the top local boxers to compete in their events. For further information, please visit www.warnerpromotionsllc.com.
Antonio Castro - Warner Promotions - (440) 258-8117
Jeff Richie - Warner Promotions - (216) 854-0485
